Electric sign



M. E. LAUNBRANCH.

' ELECTRiC SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-10,1917. 1,339,566. t nt d May 11, 1920.

. l 2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

@6722??? maZmZmZJ i Ww M. E. LAUNBRANCH.

ELECTRIC SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10, 1917.

1,339,566. Patented May 11, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MALCOLM E. LAUNBRANCH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC SIGN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11, 1920.

Application filed August 10, 1917. Serial No. 185,419.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MALCOLM E. LAUN- BRANCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Signs, of which the following is a full, clear,

concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to electrical signs and more particularly to that class of electrical signs in which there are a plurality of sign units in each one of which any desired character or letter may be established. In signs of this character each unit has a plurality of lamps which may be all the way from thirty to forty in number, means being provided to select for illumination those lamps which are required to portray a 'iven character.

1y invention concerns itself particularly with the means which control the selection of the lamps. In accordance with my invention I arrange a contact board provided with contact terminals respectively one for each lamp, the circuit through the lamps being directly controlled through these contact terminals without the interposition of any relays or other auxiliary devices.

My invention further contemplates other features, all of which will be apparent from the detailed description of one form of carrying out my invention, which I will now describe in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front view indicative of a sign constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of the templet carrier; I

Fig. 3 is a view diagrammatically illustrating the circuit connections;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the contact elements, and V Fig. 5 is a partial sectional view of the templet carrier and contact board together with the associated devices, V

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, I

i show a framework 10 carrying any desirable number of sign units 11. These sign units are each'provided with'lamps 12, there being thirty-six lamps shown per unit, the lamps being indicated merely in the first one as it would require unnecessary duplication to show them in each one of the other units.

I will explain now the inclusion of these lamps in the circuit by referring more particularly to Fig. 3. In this figure I show six lamps 12 as indicative of all of the lamps. The contact terminal board 13 is constructed of insulation and carries a plurality of contact terminals 15. These contact terminals are preferably all constructed alike, their structure comprising a stud 16 fastened into the board 13, this stud being surmounted by a cup shaped hood 17, there being a spring 18 interposed between the stud and cap 17. This cap 17 is slidable along the stud 16, and the conductor 20 is soldered'within the tube or stud 16. The studs are directly connected to the lamps by the conductors 20, as shown. Suitable fuses 21 are provided and these fuses are made common to a certain number of lamps. The contact board 13 also carries a further stud 22 constructed similarly to the terminals 15- which is connected by means of a conductor 23 to a contact point 24. The contact board 13 also carries further contact terminals 25 and 26 which are constructed similarly to the contact terminals 15.

In order to establish contact conditions between the various contact terminals I provide a templet carrier 27, this templet carrier being mounted on an arm 28 projecting from the contact plate 13. The arm 28 has two bearingelements 29 and 30 between which by means of the pins 31 a bearing 32 is rotatably mounted. This bearing 32 rotatably carries a shaft 33, which shaft is maintained in its relative position by the collars 34. The templet carrier 27 is fixedly secured to the shaft 33. The templet carrier likewise has a pair of toggle links 35 and 36 which coiiperate with the hook or seat 37 fixedly secured to the contact board 13. The templet carrier is provided with means to support a templet 38, this templet consisting merely of a strip of insulation having perforations corresponding to the particular contact terminals 15 whose associated lamps it is desired to illuminate. Projections 39 maintain the alinement of the templet upon the templet carrier, and spring pressed clamps 40 controlled by the springs 41 hold the templet in position. The templet carrier 27 has the metallic plates 42 and 43.

By referring to Fig. 5 it will be seen that when the templet 38 is in position and the templet carrier 27 is brought into its opershown as it is merely a constructional detail.

The'arrangement of the templet-1s such the sign the links 35 and 36 are released to swing the templet carrier about the pins 31, then to rotate the templet carrier in the bearing 32'to an angle of 180, then to return the templet carrier so that it cofiiperates with the contact terminals 15. In this manner the time interval between different legends may be cut down to a minimum. The link 36 likewise carries a plug 46 which is adapted to control contact springs 47 48, 49 and 50, these springs being insulatingly mounted upon the contact plate 13 in any suitable manner, the mounting however not being that the first row 4 of holes 44 may come spond to one sign unit, the next row to the next sign unit, and so on, and of course the arrangement of the contact terminals 15 is in accordance therewith. The control relay or circuit breaker 51 is provided with the two armatures 52 and 53. These armatures cooperate respectively with contacts 54 and 24. These armatures control the circuit from the source of power which in this instance is indicated as the battery 55, suitable fuses 56 and 57 being included in the leads from the source of current. A further fuse 58 and resistance 59 are also provided for purposes which will presently appear. Likewise, a fuse '60.

Assume now that the templet carrier is in the position shown in Fig. 5, but thatthe plug 46 has not yet moved into position to control the springs 47 48, 49 and 50. 7 Under this condition of things the contact terminals 15 are all connected electrically to the contact terminal 22 through the plate 43. The circuit through the springs 47 to 50 being opened, the circuit breaker 51 is not yet energized, and therefore there is no circuit established through the lamps 12. Thus no sparking need occur at the contact terminals 15 or 22 either on making or breaking the circuit, as this making or breaking takes effect at the armatures 52 and 53 which are properly constructed for this purpose.

Assume now that the plug 46 has moved into limiting position to control springs 47 48, 49 and 50. Under this condition of things a circuit is established which extends from the source of power 55 through the fuse 57, fuse 58, conductor 61, spring 50, spring 49, conductor 62, circuit breaker 51,

conductor 63, resistance 59,-spring 47, spring 48, conductor 64, fuse 56, to the source of power -The circuit breaker 51 is thereupon energized and attracts its armatures 52 and 53, thereby establishing a circuit condition as follows: from the source of power 55, to fuse 57, armature 53, contact 24, con: ductor 65, fuse 60, conductor 23, contact ter minal 22, plate 43, those contact terminals 15 which project through the templet 38, their associated lamps 12, fuse 21, conductor 66, contact 54, armature 52, fuse 56, back to the source of power The selected. lamps of the sign units 11 are thereby illuminated. The contact terminals 25 and 26 are precautionary and for the purpose of preventing all of the lamps in the entire sign from being illuminated, which might occur should the templet carrier 27 be moved into its contact closing position with no templet 38 in place. There would thereby result a great waste of current and a possible overload of some of the circuits. To avoid this contingency contacts 25 and 26 are provided. WVhen'ever there is a templet in position this templet is not provided with holes for these terminals 25 and 26, but should no templet be in position, then these terminals 25 and 26 engage the plate 43. These terminals 25 and 26 thereupon short circuit the circuit breaker 51 by reason of their connection with the opposite terminals of this circuit breaker through the agency of conductors 67 and 68. Thus even though the plug 46 closes the circuit throughsprings 47 48, 49 and 50, the circuit breaker is not energized. The short circuit however is not placed across the source of power by reason of the resistance 59.

From what has been thus described the nature of my invention will be readily clear to those skilled in the art. Having thus described one form which my invention may take, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An electrical sign of the character described comprising a sign unit having a plurality of lamps adapted for selectiveillumination, a contact board having contact terminals, conductors extending from said contact terminals to said lamps, a source of current, a templet carrier having means to associate said source of current directly with said lamps, a templet carried by said templet carrier to prevent the selection for illumination of predeterminedlamps aforesaid, a circuit breaker, and means whereby said circuit breaker completes the circuit closure after the association'of said templet carrier means with said contact terminals and effects the circuit rupture before the disconnection of said templet carrier. means with said terminals. Y Y

2. An electrical sign of the character, described comprising a plurality of sign units,

each sign unit having a plurality of lamps adapted for selective illumination, a contact board having contact terminals, conductors extending from said contact terminals to said lamps, a source of current, a templet carrier having means to associate said source of current directly with said lamps, a templet carried by said templet carrier to prevent the selection for illumination of predetermined lamps aforesaid, a circuit breaker, and means whereby said circuit breaker completes the circuit closure after the association of said templet carrier means with said contact terminals and effects the circuit rupture before the disconnection of said templet carrier means with said terminals.

3. An electrical sign of the character de scribed comprising a plurality of sign units, each sign unit having a plurality of lamps adapted for selective illumination, a contact board having contact terminals, conductors extending from said contact terminals to said lamps, a source of current, a templet carrier having means to associate said source of current directly with said lamps, a templet carried by said templet carrier to prevent the selection for illumination of predetermined lamps aforesaid, a pivotally mounted framework, and means for pivotally mounting said templet carrier upon said framework whereby it may present opposite faces in active association to said contact board.

4. An electrical sign of the character de scribed comprising a sign unit having a plurality of lamps adapted for selective illumination, a contact board having contact terminals, conductors extending from said contact terminals to said lamps, a source of current, a templet carrier having means to associate said source of current directly with said lamps, a templet carried by said templet carrier to prevent the selection for illumination of predetermined lamps aforesaid, a circuit breaker, means whereby said circuit breaker completes the circuit closure after the association of said templet carrier means with said contact terminals and effects the circuit rupture before the disconnection of said templet carrier means with said terminals, and means for pivotally mounting said templet carrier whereby it may present opposite faces in active association to said contact board.

5. An electrical sign of the character described comprising a plurality of sign units, each sign unit having a plurality of lamps adapted for selective illumination, a contact board having contact terminals, conductors extending from said contact terminals to said lamps, a source of current, a templet carrier having means to associate said source of current directly with said lamps, a templet carried by said templet carrier to prevent the selection for illumination of predetermined lamps aforesaid, a circuit breaker, means whereby said circuit breaker completes the circuit closure after the association of said templet carrier means with said contact terminals and effects the circuit rupture before the disconnection of said templet carrier means with said terminals, and means for pivotally mounting said templet carrier whereby it may present opposite faces in active association to said contact board.

6. In a device of the character described the combination with a contact board having a plurality of terminals, a reversible templet carrier mounted in association with said 'contact board, means whereby said templet carrier is mounted to present opposite faces to said contact board, said means including a pivotally mounted framework having means for pivotally supporting said templet carrier, and means carried by opposite faces of said templet carrier to support a templet thereon.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 28th day of July A. D., 1917.

MALCOLM E. LAUNBRANCH.

Witnesses:

HAZEL A. J ONES, A. LYDA JONES. 

